Union Official: Baltimore Prisons 'Club Med' For Inmates

Rick Binettit with Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services is asked by WBAL's Bill Vanko about what is alleged to have happened at the two Baltimore prisons Download This File

Read statement from Maryland corrections officials about the indictment Download This File

Herbert Barry with the Maryland Correctional Law Enforcement Union reacts to the indictment of the officers with WBAL's Anne Kramer Download This File

A corrections officers union is reacting to the indictment of 13 officers by the federal government for smuggling drugs and money and having sex with inmates at two prisons in Baltimore City.

Herbert Barry with the Maryland Correctional Law Enforcement Union tells WBAL he is not surprised by the indictment. Barry says some of the officers who work at Central Booking and the City Detention Center are relieved that action was finally taken because they had been complaining and were not seeing any action taken from management regarding their complaints.

Barry says know they understand management was cooperating with the investigation.

The thirteen are accused of helping the Black Guerrilla Family gang operating in the two facilities. Some of the female officers who were indicted are accused of having sex with one of the leaders of the gang who then bought them jewelry and luxury cars.

"The majority of the officers working there are good officers, law abiding citizens who don't want to work around people like that but sometimes they don't have a choice. They knew they were doing something wrong, it was being reported and it appeared to them that management was allowing it to happen," says Barry.

State correction officials said they cooperated with the federal investigation.

Barry says the gang problem is "very strong" in the prisons because the administration will not let the officers control the facility. He says inmates seem to have more rights than the corrections officers who are hired to guard them.

Barry says it is safe to say the inmates are running the asylum. He says there are examples of inmates assaulting officers who then fight back and the officer gets charged with assault or excessive force. "An inmate can spit in an officer's face, the officer who is human reacts and the officer gets disciplined," says Barry.

He also says the detention center is like a "Club Med" for the inmates because the administration refuses to enforce the regulations against the inmates.

Barry suggests that there be fewer female corrections officers guarding male inmates in those prisons as a way of helping with the problem. He says the intensive training that is needed to do the job correctly has been cut and rookie officers are training each other.

Rick Benetti with the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services told WBAL's Bill Vanko on Maryland's Morning News that 54 corrections officers were fired back in 2010 who worked at the City Detention Center.

Those named in the federal indictment unsealed Tuesday are suspended without pay.